Kayla’s POV

Time passed for me mostly in sleep. There was nothing for me to do in this darkness. I couldn’t see to do anything and shouting and screaming did nothing. I attempted to escape several times but it seemed I wasn’t strong enough to break the simple chain that kept me prisoner. I was given food and it was strangers who gave it to me. They placed it right in front of me which was kind of them. If they didn’t I wouldn’t have been able to find it. The man who had come to me my first time here visited me often. He would come into my cell, as I called it, and sit next to me. He would talk to me, as if we had known each other our whole lives. It was simple conversation. We would talk about trivial stuff and it was his conversations and sleep that was mostly what I did. He never told me his name or why I was here. He didn’t tell me who had kidnapped me or where I was. He never spoke about Loren or Mitchell.
When he wasn’t there and when I wasn’t sleeping there were moments when everything would come crashing down on me and I would break down. I tried to be strong, I did, but it was just too much. I knew that no one would be able to find me. If they could then they would have been here already. I just missed everyone so much. I didn’t know if I would ever see them again. My family and my friends. Charlie, Edward, Jacob, my mum. They were who I thought about most. Whenever I thought about Edward I always touched the ring on my left hand. We were supposed to be getting married. Next year. Would that happen? Would I get out of here? I had never thought I would be murdered. Never thought I would die at the hands of some cruel old man. I thought I would die of disease or of old age but never like this. In a dingy filthy cell chained to a wall. At least I was wearing a nice dress, although that could possibly be covered in dirt.
The door opened and I closed my eyes against the light that was spilling in. The light hurt my eyes now. Spending this long in the dark did that to you.
“Hello, Michaela. How are you today?”
It was him. He was back like usual. I didn’t know the time in here. Even if I’d had a watch it would be no use since I can’t see in the damned darkness.
“The usual,” I replied, shrugging.
He shut the door and walked over to me, a circle of light following me. It was something the people here could do. Little orbs of light instead of torches that followed you. It was kind of cool.
He sat down next to me and the circle of light floated next to him. If you had seen this guy on the street you would think he was a pretty nice guy. It was his eyes. They were a soft golden brown colour that looked so caring and tender. But then again he did have me as his hostage. He was handsome. Gold silken hair flowed down to his shoulders and strong but soft features. You could see his muscular chest underneath the black shirt he wore. But I didn’t care if he was handsome. I would only like this guy if he set me free but even then I would have to consider it.
“How long have I been here?” I asked him.
“Six days.”
“Seems longer.”
“It would in here. All this darkness confuses you. It’s supposed to.”
“Six days is a long time though,” I said. “I mean, you obviously went to a lot of trouble to kidnap me but then you don’t do anything with me. You haven’t even tortured me. Why?”
He laughed. It was a cold hard laugh.
“I did not go to any trouble to kidnap you,” he said, harshly. “I don’t want to hurt you. But you wouldn’t believe me, would you? I keep you locked up in this cell with no light. I feed you once a day and only talk to you because I feel so guilty.”
I was not expecting that.
“If you didn’t kidnap me, why are you keeping me locked up here?”
“Would you rather stay in Loren’s part of this idiotic castle? He wouldn’t feed you at all and you would probably be dead by now. He had six Jenzis taken from their original duties to be your torturers. Did you know he even had specialist whips made? Studded with spikes, he told me, just for you.”
His tone of voice was disgust. He despised what Loren was going to do to me and so was I. I didn’t fancy being whipped with spikes. I take this dark cell any day.
But the whips with spikes weren’t important right now. This guy was. He was keeping me alive; he wasn’t out to kill me. He locked me up in this cell to protect me which was strange to me. You don’t lock up people you want to help but then he was a Jenzi, I think, and he was probably under Loren’s control and he had to make it look like he was on Loren’s side which would mean locking me up and keeping me in darkness and chained to a wall and not letting me know anything but other than that he was an ally not an enemy.
“Thank you, I think,” I said.
“Your welcome,” he said, his voice light and musical again. I preferred that to his cold hard tone.
“You work for Loren?” I asked.
“Work for?” he laughed. “Much worse. I’m his nephew.”
“That’s bad,” I replied.
“Mitchell’s lucky. He has your father for a friend. I have no one. If I went against my uncle, who would protect me? No one would ever go against Loren. It’s like committing suicide.”
“I would protect you,” I said. And I meant it. This guy seriously didn’t want anything to do with Loren. I could hear it in his voice and see it in his eyes. But there was a shadow of doubt in my mind. I had to know if this was for real. I had been fooled before. I reached out with my mind and got nothing. I tried again and got nothing. I thought he was blocking me but I would have been able to sense the invisible wall surrounding his mind but I couldn’t. It was simply nothing as if I couldn’t read anyone’s mind. As if I had no telepathy.
“How can you protect me? You’re chained to a wall.”
“But what if I wasn’t changed to a wall?”
“Even then you couldn’t. You’re practically human,” he scoffed.
“I’m an Azdi,” I said. “I’m just as powerful as you Jenzis.”
“You, Michaela, are more powerful than me but not at this moment in time.”
That shocked me. Hearing I was more powerful than him was shocking but when he said I wasn’t as this exact moment was what shocked me. How could I be more powerful than him but not at this moment?
Uh oh.
“I have no abilities,” I whispered into the darkness. I looked straight into his eyes. “That’s why I can’t see in the dark, why I can’t break this damn chain and why I can’t read your mind.”
He seemed to cringe under my gaze.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I have a family, Michaela, and if I didn’t do what he says...well, you can imagine.”
“You have a family?” I forgot about my abilities for a moment.
“A wife and son,” he answered. “Loretta and Kyo. Loretta is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen and I’ve loved her since the second I laid eyes on her fifty years ago. And Kyo is so young. He’s seven years old.”
I must have looked confused because he smiled.
“We age much slower than normal humans. Even Azdis age rate is slow but not like ours. I’m a hundred and ten years old. Loretta is a hundred and one.”
“And Kyo?”
“He really is seven.”
“Just a kid,” I said, softly. “I understand why you did this. You wanted to protect your family but you need to let me go. If I’m not home and safe then my family will try to rescue me and they might get hurt. I have to protect mine too.”
“I can’t,” he said, the words coming out forcefully. “I can’t betray Loren. Loretta and Kyo will pay for it.”
“I’ll protect you. Me and my family. You help me they will help you.”
“How can you?” he laughed coldly. “You may be powerful but you’re still young.”
“I have friends,” I said, feeling slightly hurt. “Big friends.” Emmett popped into my mind.
He didn’t answer, just stood up.
“Wait!” I called as he walked away. “What’s your name?”
“Zachariah,” he answered before closing the door on me.